Scout's Epiphany
by Fifi McFu
Summary: It takes a camping trip and a punch in the face for Sasuke to realise how he actually feels about Naruto. SasuNaru, lemon, slight NejiKiba hints


_New oneshot, and I'm back on SasuNaru again! Hooray! This is the request for **Spyrea**, who gave me a number of different scenarios to choose from. I decided to do the camping one after I had a vision of the first scene of this fanfiction and couldn't get it out of my head. She wanted Itachi to turn up and annoy Sasuke at some point as well, and I have done that, but it's a very small part :P Hope it's enough dear, and hope you like it!_

_On a side note, did you read this week's manga chapter yet guys? OMG I actually cried._

_Kiba get's hit on the head a lot in this fic. Poor Kiba -smooches-_

_Also, consider this fanfiction a **huge** thank you to all my readers for the 10,000 hits to my profile page! You guys really are what keeps me going and I can't wait to see what else you motivate me to write! -bows down to you all-_

_**Warnings: **SasuNaru, yaoi, some fighting, Kiba and Naruto being total retards_

_**Disclaimer: **No ownage._

* * *

The general laws of the universe dictate that you should never shove two loud childish idiots into the back of a Golf for a long period of time, because this will result in death, dismemberment and hair-ripping frustration on the part of the poor passengers sat in the front of said Golf. Unfortunately, Sasuke and Neji must have missed that part of the manual on how to take a camping trip with your possibly mentally retarded friends, because this is exactly what they had done four hours ago.

To say they were regretting it was a severe understatement.

"Hey!" one of the idiots screamed, tapping the touch screen of his DS furiously with a stylus. "What the hell? I thought water was weak against electric!"

The other idiot guffawed over his own console. The sound of their insistent smacking on the screens filled the car. "But Wooper isn't a water type, dumbass! Take this!"

There was an agonized scream, causing Neji to bodily turn in his seat to make sure nobody had actually been killed, but it turned out that Kiba had apparently just killed Naruto's Pikachu, so Neji swivelled around to face the front again before he got dragged into any Pokémon related arguments. Sasuke kept his eyes on the road, his fingers clenched tightly around the steering wheel. Neji's fingers were scrunched similarly around the map he was holding; Naruto had broken the SatNav earlier when he tried to change the woman's voice to that of Yoda and ended up destroying the touch screen with his clumsy, oafish fingers.

They had hoped that giving Naruto and Kiba access to their DS's would silence them for a while, allowing the more responsible and intelligent of the four a chance to relax as they drove along endless highway, keeping a constant look out for their turn-off. Neither Sasuke nor Neji had known however that the consoles could link up so that Kiba and Naruto could fight each other. If they had known, they would have never allowed the damn machines to have been turned on.

"How much further?" Sasuke growled out through harshly gritted teeth. Naruto (who wasn't wearing his seatbelt as per usual) turned himself around in his seat to face Kiba, thus jostling the back of Sasuke's chair. The Uchiha's expression tightened in annoyance.

Neji checked the map whilst Kiba and Naruto immersed themselves back into their little cartoon fantasy. "It's the next turning," he sighed with visible relief. The Hyuuga's normally silky and well-kept hair looked a little frizzy from the stress of being an acting parent to the world's most childish twenty-one year olds.

_Why_ they had agreed to come on this impromptu camping trip with Naruto and Kiba was at this point beyond them. It must have seemed like a good idea at the time; else the two rational company heirs would have never even considered it. Right now however, Sasuke was actually thinking of the board meeting he had missed to come on this trip with longing. He'd rather sit in a conference next to Itachi for an entire day than act as the responsible guardian to the two _imbeciles_ in the back seat.

He turned on the radio then, in hopes of drowning out the noise in the back with something more musical and in tune. A song he had heard a few times that was in the charts came blasting out through the speakers, already halfway through.

"Oh, I love this song!" Naruto screeched.

"Me too!" Kiba returned, both sounding like over stimulated gibbons. And they began to sing along, badly.

Sasuke dearly longed for his stress ball in that moment, but it was in his rucksack in the boot of the car along with all their camping equipment. He settled for attempting to mould the steering wheel grip to the shape of his fingers, regardless of the fact that it was made of rigid leather. Neji closed his eyes and smacked his forehead on the window in despair, and Sasuke thought he could hear a quiet mantra of "Why? _Why?_" coming from the pale-eyed boy.

Sasuke turned the radio off. The heated battle in the backseat resumed.

"Hey, since when did your Chikorita evolve?" Kiba demanded, launching himself across the seats to look at Naruto's screen, as if to check that his game wasn't glitching. The car lurched a little as Kiba's body weight was thrown around, and Sasuke's arms strained to keep the vehicle straight.

"Kiba…" Neji said warningly.

"Since like last week!" Naruto shouted back at the brunet, holding his DS out of Kiba's reach. Kiba climbed bodily on top of the blond, reaching for the console that was now batting against Naruto's window in his efforts to keep it away from Kiba.

"Naruto…" Sasuke now chimed in, using an equally warning tone.

"Give it here blondie!" Kiba shrieked, and then there was a rather tormented yell of pain and an almighty crash which ended with Kiba and Naruto awkwardly arranged in the foot wells of the car, groaning.

Neji covered his eyes with one hand. "What happened?" he asked in the same tone as a parent asking their children why one was crying and one was holding a broken cricket bat.

There was a shuffle and another groan. Sasuke fought to keep his eyes on the road. "Kiba… kneed me in the nads…" Naruto said in a rather high-pitched squeak.

"And then he dropped the DS on my fucking head!" Kiba moaned, his voice not as high as Naruto's.

"And then you both fell off the seat because you weren't wearing your seatbelts?" Sasuke finished. There was a grumble of assent from behind his chair. Neji snickered, apparently pleased that the idiots had been punished for being so irritating for the past four hours. Sasuke smothered a smirk, and seeing a lay-by coming up, flicked his blinker on whilst Naruto and Kiba struggled to get out of the foot wells.

The car came to a stop in the parking lane. The air around them shimmered in the heat. In the distance, beyond the forest of slightly wilted green trees, Sasuke could see a sliver of blue that marked their destination.

"Neji, Naruto," he said firmly once everyone was sat up straight. "Switch."

* * *

They were surprised to find when they got the lake that there were only two other camping parties in the area, according to the warden who gave them their ticket once they had paid for camping rights.

"It's unusually quiet for this time of year," he told Sasuke in confused tones as Naruto and Kiba unloaded the car whilst Neji supervised from a distance. "But I suppose it's better for you guys, you're less likely to be disturbed."

This suited Sasuke just fine. He took the radio the warden handed him in case of emergencies, paid for a few tokens to use the public showers located at the entrance (though knowing Kiba and Naruto they would insist on bathing in the lake like 'real campers'), and then he headed back over to the car and picked up his rucksack and a six pack of water.

Once they all had something to carry, they set off around the edge of the lake, weaving through tall redwoods in search of a suitable place to set up camp. Naruto had pulled on a pair of sturdy walking boots; and despite having a heavy rucksack on his back and carrying the cool box full of beer and food, he was leaping across the random formations of grey rock that they encountered, looking every bit the determined adventurer.

"Oi, Dora the Explorer," Kiba called out when Naruto performed a particularly impressive leap across a five foot gap between rocks, "Don't shake the beer up too much!"

Naruto paused, looking as horror-struck as if Kiba had told him that ramen had been banned across the world. "Shit," he said, looking down at the cooling box swinging in his hands, "I didn't think of the beer."

"I'm sure the beer is fine," Sasuke assured him absently as he walked past the frozen blond. "Just walk normally now please so I don't have to worry about radioing the warden for medical aid when you crack your head open."

"Yes mother," Naruto chimed, leaping down to ground level and falling into step with Neji, who was quietly taking in their surroundings with his large, light eyes. A couple of large brown hares ran across the path they were tracing, and the Hyuuga's mouth curled in a small smile.

"Perhaps this won't be so bad after all," he admitted. Sasuke had to agree. Naruto and Kiba had chosen a surprisingly peaceful location considering their usual love of loud noises and socialising. They could see the edge of the lake through the trees as they walked, the sun dancing across the flat surface so blindingly that the water looked like a large sheet of shiny blue metal. The only noises apart from Naruto and Kiba's constant jabbering were the sounds of birds twittering jovially in the tree tops and the water lapping at the stony beach that bordered the entire lake.

The lake was large, big enough that it took them an hour just to get quarter of the way around it. At this point, they came across a large clearing surrounded by small bushes, about twenty metres from the water's edge. The clearing was mostly bare, dry earth ideal for pitching tents, but there were patches of grass spaced around it and there was also what looked like the remnants of a previous camping party's fire pit, which was essentially a slightly dug out area surrounded by round stones.

"This looks good," Kiba announced, and they all agreed, setting down their baggage and flopping down on the ground. Despite being in the shade of the tall woodland that surrounded the area, the air was unbearably humid. Sasuke's t-shirt was sticking to his chest, and Naruto's thin white wife beater was drenched in sweat. The blond quickly divested himself of the saturated garment, revealing his toned chest and tanned skin that Sasuke had always been secretly jealous of. Kiba followed suit, sporting a tan of his own to rival Naruto's, and then together they all began to unpack their stuff.

The two tents went up without much trouble, though Sasuke half considered mentioning to Kiba and Naruto that theirs was facing into the wind and there was due to be a rainstorm that night. He caught Neji's eye though, and noticed the slightly sadistic smirk trying to worm its way onto the pale Hyuuga's face. It occurred to him then that if Kiba and Naruto's tent got flooded in the middle of the night, it would be an apt punishment for their behaviour in the car earlier.

So Sasuke and Neji said nothing, just choosing to erect their own tent in the proper direction so that _they_ at least would stay dry and warm.

With the tents pitched and the camp fire area organised with food, alcohol, water and the collapsible garden chairs Neji had brought, everyone settled down in a seat with a sandwich. There was silence as the ravenous were fed, a silence that Sasuke enjoyed immensely whilst the sun filtered through the green canopy of foliage above them and the hidden creatures around them bustled about their daily lives.

The silence didn't last long though. "Can we go swimming?" Naruto asked, his knees jostling with nervous energy and making him look like a ten year old. "Can we?"

Kiba seemed to like this suggestion as he perked up in his seat and also began to bounce. "Yeah, yeah! Let's go swimming guys!"

Sasuke and Neji rubbed their temples in perfect synchronisation, a habit they had developed since they had befriended the more energetic two of the group. Well, befriended was one way to say it. It was more like Naruto and Kiba had met them on their first day at university and then just wouldn't leave Neji and Sasuke alone. And after a while, Sasuke and Neji had just stopped trying to get away from them and accepted their fate.

"At least wait for fifteen minutes for your food to go down," Sasuke sighed, alarmed at how much he sounded like his mother in that moment.

Naruto wilted like a dying flower, but didn't argue. He and Kiba dived into their tent to get changed into swim shorts, leaving Sasuke and Neji to settle down in their chairs with the books they had brought. Sasuke opened up the hefty hardback he was halfway through and dived into his horror story with morbid eagerness, completely shutting out the squawks and guffaws coming from the idiots' tent as they got changed. Neji had lulled himself into a similar state of sensory ignorance, and that was just fine with them.

At some point, Naruto and Kiba ran past them in board shorts, aiming for the huge expanse of water lying just beyond the trees, but the pale boys ignored them in favour of their books. Whilst Neji and Sasuke were both active and sporty, when given the chance to relax they took it. They could go swimming any time in the local leisure centre, but quiet time with a book was hard for them to come by. As they read, they didn't even hear the sounds of Naruto and Kiba playing in the water, they were so immersed.

Sasuke had read a couple of long, rather epic chapters by the time Naruto and Kiba returned, and he was only shaken out of his reading reverie when Naruto stood behind his chair and dripped all over him, causing Sasuke to bookmark his place and close the novel with a snap. This was the sign that told Naruto that "Sasuke's Quiet Time" was now officially over and that Sasuke had acknowledged he would now have to spend time talking to everyone. The blond gave a whoop and took the book from Sasuke, depositing it in the Uchiha's tent whilst Kiba did the same to Neji's hardback, and then the two dripping wet boys pulled out cans of beer and passed them around, collapsing in their chairs.

The sound of four cans cracking open pierced the woodland peace, and then they all took a long, grateful swig of the cold alcohol. By this point it was early evening and the temperature had lowered to a bearable level, but the beer was welcome in any case. Beer was always welcome.

"Did you see the awesome dive I did off that rock earlier?" Naruto burst out, and Kiba roared with laughter, slapping his knees.

"Dude, that wasn't a dive; that was a belly flop!" He pointed at Naruto's rather red torso, which Sasuke had assumed was just sunburn. "Look! He's useless at diving!"

Sasuke smirked at Naruto, who flushed in anger. "I thought you were some kind of diving extraordinaire?" the Uchiha asked slyly. "That's what you told me last week anyway."

"Yeah right," Neji commented silkily, "I saw Naruto through the trees. If he's a diving extraordinaire, then Kiba's a genius."

"Then there's no hope for either of them," Sasuke sighed, and he and Neji toasted in amusement as Naruto and Kiba squawked in indignation.

Much later, an awful lot of beer having been consumed, the heavens opened on them and it began to rain heavily. They took this as the hint that they should go to bed, and whilst Sasuke and Neji stumbled into one tent, Naruto and Kiba fell into the other. The wind had picked up considerably and the sound of the rain on the roof of his tent made Sasuke feel a bit queasy, as if he could feel the water pressure on his stomach. But this didn't last long, because he was soon fast asleep and snoring drunkenly whilst the storm buffeted around them.

* * *

His first thought when he jerked to groggy consciousness at three in the morning was that there was some sort of animal rooting around the camp outside. There was shuffling and grumbling, and occasionally something rather large seemed to fall into his side of the tent, lurching and unstable as the wind roared loudly. Despite the fact that he knew there were none in this area, his drunken mind immediately decided that there were bears outside.

Crash. "Ow, fuck!"

Swearing bears at that. Sasuke wondered briefly if all bears knew how to swear or just these ones, completely accepting of the fact that the bears were talking. He sat up a little in his sleeping bag, listening intently as the 'bears' continued to scuffle around outside.

"Crap, where the fuck is the zipper?" one muttered from near his feet. Something was pawing insistently at the opening of the tent, the sound just about detectable over the howling wind outside. Sasuke reached over and fished his hefty flashlight out of his backpack, ready to club the first animal that entered his sleeping space. He debated whether to turn it on, but decided that this would alert the bears to the fact he was awake, which was possibly not a good idea. So he crawled up onto his knees in the dark, Neji still sleeping like a log across the tent, and raised the flashlight above his head as the zipper was drawn back by something on the outside.

Sasuke swayed, watching the progress of the little metal tag. As it reached the top of the tent, he had a brief moment where he wondered how these bears had managed to unzip the tent without opposable thumbs, but he quickly pushed that aside as something brown and furry shoved its way through the gap. He brought the flashlight down with all his might… and smacked Kiba right in the crown of his (luckily very thick) skull.

"Oh _fuck_!" Kiba howled like a wounded dog, clutching the back of his head whilst his drenched hair dripped all over Neji and Sasuke's shoes. Neji jerked awake, sitting bolt upright like a vampire springing out of a coffin, making Sasuke jump and fall into Kiba, who collapsed on the floor, clutching his head in agony.

"Kiba?" A blonde head now stuck into the tent, hovering above Kiba's wounded body. "Hurry up and get in the tent, it's pissing it down out here!"

Kiba just groaned. Sasuke turned on the flashlight and inspected the back of the brunet's head, feeling rather guilty for hitting him so hard. But just a little.

"It's bleeding a little bit but you'll be fine," he said, shuffling back as Naruto, who had apparently grown bored of waiting outside, torpedoed into the tent and shook himself like a wet dog, soaking Neji and Sasuke.

"What the hell are you _doing_ in here at-" Neji checked the time on his cell, "_Three_ in the fucking morning?"

"Our tent got flooded!" Naruto protested as he grabbed the fallen Kiba under the armpits and dragged him bodily into the tent, before zipping the opening closed to prevent the rain coming in. "So we're sharing with you guys."

Sasuke now fully regretted his decision to not tell them the correct direction in which to pitch a tent. "Argh, fine," he growled, slumping back down so that his head fell on his pillow. Neji groaned and also lay down again.

There was a loud kerfuffle as Naruto and Kiba tried to squeeze themselves into the gap between Sasuke and Neji. Sasuke closed his eyes irritably and rolled over to face the slanted wall of the tent, waiting for the two to settle so that he could go back to sleep.

"My head hurts," Kiba groaned from somewhere behind him.

"I thought you were a bear," Sasuke admitted, feeling a bit stupid now that he thought about it soberly.

He jumped when a very warm body pressed up against his back. "What the fuck?" he hissed, looking over his shoulder to see a saturated Naruto looking at him apologetically.

"Sorry man," the blond whispered, unusually gentle. "There's hardly any room otherwise."

Sasuke held Naruto's gaze for a few moments, not sure what to do. On one hand, Sasuke hated physical contact of any kind (unless it involved punching Naruto or Kiba). On the other hand however, Naruto was incredibly warm and was protecting Sasuke quite well from the cold that had been let into the tent. His gaze drifted over Naruto to look at what Kiba was doing, and saw that Neji was receiving similar treatment from the brunet. They had both already fallen asleep, Kiba nuzzling Neji's hair and looking disturbingly comfortable.

Sasuke sighed and looked back at Naruto, who was watching him with wary, strangely luminous blue eyes. "Whatever," he eventually grumbled, turning back over and dropping his head on the pillow. "Just… keep your hands to yourself." Naruto immediately shuffled closer and draped one arm over Sasuke's hip, the hand hanging limp to show he wasn't trying to cuddle.

"Night Sasuke," he mumbled, his breath fanning a piece of hair on the back of Sasuke's neck. Even his _breath_ was warm. Sasuke grunted something resembling a reply and stared at the fabric of the tent wall, listening as Naruto's breathing evened out gradually until the boy was fast asleep. Only then did Sasuke close his eyes and let the warmth pressed to his back lull him back into dreamland.

* * *

Sasuke was on his back when he woke up the next morning. The early morning sunshine was filtering through the translucent fabric of the tent, casting them all in a strange shade of sea green. He blinked and licked his dry lips a couple of times, staring at the seam where the two walls of the tent joined overhead, before realising that he was being cuddled.

He glanced down and saw with slight horror that Naruto's head was on his chest, one arm circled almost possessively around his waist. The blond hairs fluttered as Sasuke breathed on them, and Naruto's head gently rose and fell in time with the Uchiha's chest. Naruto's hair had dried slightly wavy overnight, Sasuke noticed absently.

He glanced over to the other side of the tent, and saw Neji and Kiba sleeping back to back, Kiba facing him. The brunet's eyes were open, and he was grinning.

"You guys are so gay," he chuckled softly, watching Naruto stretch in his sleep and then nuzzle into the crook of Sasuke's neck. Sasuke threw a venomous glare at Kiba who batted it off like an annoying mosquito, completely used to it.

"You're gay," Sasuke muttered, looking back down at the sleeping blond on his chest. He had never realised before, but Naruto's eyelashes were black, not blond. Huh. "Oi, idiot, wake up," he said, grabbing one tanned (and bare) shoulder, shaking Naruto gently, and then a little harder until those black lashes fluttered open and the boy lifted his head off Sasuke's chest blearily.

"Good morning Sunshine," Kiba chimed in a sing-song voice, still grinning widely and showing off his rather pointed canine teeth. Naruto rolled onto his back, promptly smacking Kiba in the face with the back of his hand.

"Ow! For fucks sake, what is it with you two and hitting me?"

"_I'll_ hit you if you don't shut up," a low, malicious voice said, coming from Neji who hadn't moved from his position facing his side of the tent.

"Hello to you too, Neji," Naruto chuckled, his voice raspy from disuse. Sasuke sat up, still a bit flustered that he had woken up in such an… intimate position with Naruto. The blond didn't seem at all perturbed by the fact he had used Sasuke's chest as a pillow.

Sasuke began to rummage around in his bag for toothpaste, his mouth feeling furry with morning breath. He pulled out his toiletry bag and stood up in a crouch, brushing down his sleeping shorts before unzipping the tent and emerging out into brilliant sunshine that was in sharp contrast with the downpour of the previous night. Kiba and Naruto's tent was bedraggled and saturated, the only sign that there had been a storm at all.

Sasuke grabbed his flip-flops from just inside his tent, slipped them on his feet, and began to walk away from the clearing towards the lake, which glistened with dawn light. He found a nice flat rock that jutted out into the water, and settled himself down on it as he splashed water on his face and then began to brush his teeth, eager to freshen his mouth up a bit.

As he groggily moved his wrist back and forth, feeling the bristles of the brush scrape soothingly at his teeth, he stared out across the huge lake. He could barely see the trees on the other side, it was so large. Swallows flitted over his head, occasionally dipping down to the surface of the water and leaving a delicate ripple. Every now and then, a small fish would flop up out of the water and land back in with a wet smack.

Sasuke slid his feet into the water, letting the coolness wash over his skin with a sigh. Still brushing his teeth, he swung his legs back and forth in the clear blue, watching as tiny little fish swam around his feet and nipped at his toes toothlessly.

He spat out the toothpaste and rinsed his mouth, the water of the lake tasting clean and fresh, and then he grabbed a washcloth from his bag and began to properly wash his face, scrubbing off the sweat and sleepy dust.

He dimly registered someone sitting beside him when he had his face buried in the cloth, and he looked to the side to see Naruto steal his toothpaste and squirt some onto his orange toothbrush before proceeding to scrub at his teeth. Both boys were shirtless, but Naruto's tan gleamed in the sunshine whereas Sasuke's pale complexion just looked a little sickly.

They sat there, going about their morning routine in silence, their feet trailing in the water side by side. Despite the awkward way they had woken up, there was a relaxed atmosphere between them that was shown in the form of the little looks they sent each other occasionally; a quirked eyebrow from Sasuke or a roll of the eyes from Naruto. It was the atmosphere of two very good friends enjoying something that not a lot of people got to appreciate nowadays; the sound of the countryside, the smell of redwood trees and the freshness in the air following the rainstorm.

As they headed back up to the camp, they passed Kiba and Neji who were clutching their own toiletry bags as they headed down to wash up in the lake. Sasuke and Naruto changed into loose board shorts and then set to work sorting out the drenched tent belonging to Kiba and Naruto. Luckily, they had thought to shove their rucksacks in a bin liner before they abandoned the tent last night, so the only thing that was wet was the tent itself. They extracted the boys' belongings, took out all the poles, and then hung the waterlogged material over a low hanging branch to dry in the sun which was becoming steadily hotter even though it was still early morning.

They got the collapsible chairs out again and unfolded them, sitting next to the fire pit. Sasuke reached into the cooler and pulled out two bottles of water and two apples, chucking one of each to Naruto who began to eat his fruit immediately.

"What do you want to do today?" Sasuke asked, undoing the lid of his bottle and taking a sip of ice cold water.

"I want _you_ to go swimming," Naruto snickered, and Sasuke rolled his eyes but didn't protest.

Kiba and Neji returned a few minutes later and they all sat eating an assortment of fruits, bread and cured meats for breakfast, still too tired to hold a proper conversation. Neji was definitely _not_ a morning person. His hair still looked a bit dishevelled and there were bags under his unusually coloured eyes.

Sasuke was in the middle of collecting all their apple cores and bread crusts from them in a plastic bag he had brought for rubbish, when his cell phone rang in his pocket. One glance at the screen made him roll his eyes before pressing the green button and bringing the device to his ear.

"I'm supposed to be on vacation, Itachi."

There was a cool chuckle on the other end of the line that made Sasuke's teeth mash together. There was something about his older brother that just really pissed him off. Possibly it was the way their father doted over Itachi like he was some sort of messiah, or the fact that Itachi was always better than him at everything. Or maybe it was just that Itachi had always seemed like he had a screw or two loose in his head.

"Enjoying yourself, little brother?" It was a simple enough question, one to be expected from an older sibling, but it made Sasuke clenched his fist at his side. Neji was watching him covertly, with understanding eyes. He too was the underdog out of he and his cousin, except that Hinata was a bit useless and was only favoured by her father for the pure reason that she was his daughter.

"Yes, thank you," Sasuke bit out. Kiba and Naruto had started poking each other silently, trying hard not to laugh too loudly. "Is there something you wanted?"

"Oh no," Itachi said breezily, and Sasuke could imagine him looking at his nails with fake loftiness. "Just checking up on my dear little brother. We wouldn't want you eaten by wild animals before you finish up that report, now would we?"

So that was why he was calling. To remind Sasuke about that fucking report he had to have finished by next week. Sasuke had almost forgotten about it, but now, as Itachi had intended, it came back to the front of his mind, and he knew it wouldn't go away again easily.

"Thanks for ruining the day before it's even started," he snapped into the phone, pressing the red button angrily and shoving the device back in his pocket. Neji eyed him sympathetically and Naruto rubbed his arm comfortingly. They all knew what a bastard Itachi could be to Sasuke.

"Swimming?" Naruto questioned, and Sasuke nodded jerkily. Hopefully a few hours of drowning Naruto in the lake would appease his anger somewhat.

After Neji and Sasuke had lathered themselves in sun cream so as not to burn too badly, they all traipsed back down to the lake. The sun by now was high in the sky. Buzzards and kestrels soared across the vast expanse of water, keeping a look out for unsuspecting fish near the surface.

The four boys waded into the shallows, sighing as the water stole the humid drops of sweat from their legs and washed over their skin refreshingly. Kiba let out a loud sigh.

"Ahh, that feels good." They all let out murmured agreements that turned into hisses as the water reached their waists and the cold nipped at the sensitive skin there before turning into a salving, cooling remedy to the heat in the air once they were adjusted to the temperature. Naruto submerged himself completely, and came up with his hair plastered to the sides of his face, looking to be in a state of utter bliss.

They splashed around for a little while, Neji and Sasuke swimming off on their own and ducking under water occasionally, whilst Kiba and Naruto proceeded to invent some weird game, the rules of which Sasuke could not possibly work out just by watching. Eventually though, the two pales boys drifted back towards Naruto and Kiba and at some point they ended up all swimming around in a circle.

"Hey," Naruto said after about ten minutes of swimming anticlockwise, a manmade current pushing them forwards constantly. He had a mischievous glint in his eye that Sasuke recognised immediately as a warning that nothing good was about to happen. "I propose a game of Truth or Dare."

Kiba immediately agreed, as he always did with Naruto's stupid ideas. Neji sighed resignedly, not having the energy to say no to them. Which meant that Sasuke would have to say yes too, or Naruto would call him a spoilsport for the rest of the vacation. He growled, and muttered "Whatever."

It started off pretty tame. Neji and Sasuke knew what kind of dares Naruto and Kiba considered to be funny and so stuck to truths, leaving the two idiots to do the more radical dares they came up with.

"So Sasuke," Naruto said after the Uchiha selected truth for the third time, "How many people have you slept with."

Sasuke stopped dead, causing Kiba who had been behind him in their little whirlpool circle to bump into him. "Why do you want to know?" he asked suspiciously.

Naruto shrugged. "Dunno, you just never talk about your sex life."

"Or lack thereof," Kiba commented. Sasuke hit him upside the head without looking at him.

"Two," he stated, eyes narrowed as if daring anyone to make fun of the rather pathetic figure. "I've slept with two girls, okay?"

"Girls? Really?" Kiba spluttered, his eyes bugging out a little bit. "And here I thought you were a queer-boy!"

"You owe me five bucks, Kiba," Naruto said, grinning. "So, who were they?"

Sasuke shifted slightly. He looked at Neji, who gave a one-shouldered shrug. The Hyuuga knew who Sasuke had slept with, but Sasuke wasn't sure Naruto would _want_ to know.

"Ino was one of them," he muttered, his face colouring and not because of sunburn. Kiba whistled appreciatively.

"Not bad at all, Uchiha," he said, sounding almost admiring. "And the other? Was it that Karin chick that's always following you around?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto awkwardly. "It was Sakura," he admitted. Naruto's face dropped. "But it was a really long time ago!" he added quickly, knowing how hard Naruto was crushing on Sakura. "Like, in high school before she met you!"

"Oh," Naruto said, his face looking a little brighter. "It's cool man, I shouldn't get upset about it or nothing. I mean, she's fair game right?"

"Damn straight!" Kiba yelled, slapping the water with the palm of his hand. Neji rolled his eyes.

"Moving on?" the Hyuuga suggested, and they all started to walk in a circle again, finding it harder now that they no longer had their manmade current pushing them along. It was Naruto's turn next, and to everyone's surprise, he also selected truth, which was nearly unheard of.

"Okay okay!" Kiba said immediately, evidently having a burning question on his mind. "Right, before I ask, you're bi, right?"

Naruto looked nonplussed. "Yeah, why?"

"Okay then, so here's the question," Kiba said, chuckling darkly in a way that made Sasuke swim a little faster, "Would you sleep with Sasuke?"

There was a very long, awkward pause. Neji grabbed a floating twig and threw it at Kiba's head.

"Ow! What the _fuck_ Neji!"

"Way to make an awkward silence, dumbass," the Hyuuga scolded. Sasuke was scarlet in the face with either rage or embarrassment, he wasn't sure which yet, and even Naruto had a bit of a flush to his tanned cheeks. The blond scratched the back of his head, laughing nervously.

"Heh," he said, looking at Sasuke who was glaring at him as if _daring_ him to even consider the idea. "Why do you wanna know?"

Kiba grinned, still rubbing the back of his head which was looking a little swollen from all the beatings he had taken so far. "Cause when I woke up this morning, you two were snuggled up to each other like a fucking newlywed couple!"

"Correction," Sasuke said in a trembling voice, his eyes flashing angrily, "_Naruto _was snuggled up to _me_. I was just lying there."

Kiba's wolfish grin grew wider. "Nuh-uh!" he chanted in a sing-song voice commonly used by six year olds. "I woke up _before_ you, and you were cuddling him in your sleep Uchiha!"

Sasuke was furious to find that Naruto smiled at this. "Well in _that_ case," said with a laugh, "You're welcome to me any time, Sasuke."

He winked, and Sasuke lost it. He threw himself across the circle at Naruto, tackling him and taking him underwater, thinking only of hurting the stupid idiot. He held the struggling blond underwater for at least thirty seconds, then wrenched him up by his ridiculous blond hair and hissed in Naruto's spluttering face, "Take. It. Back."

"Someone's in denial," Kiba muttered to Neji, whilst Naruto's hands came up to try and wrench Sasuke's fists from his hair.

"Let go you bastard!" Naruto yelled, wincing as Sasuke tightened his hold. The Uchiha was breathing heavily like a furious lion, but in the back of his mind he was questioning why exactly he was getting so angry. It was only another one of Kiba and Naruto's stupid jokes after all. Usually they just rolled off him like water rolls off a duck, but for some reason the insinuation that Naruto might physically _want_ him was making his temper go through the roof. If he had thought he was angry with Itachi earlier, it was nothing compared to how he was feeling now.

"Take. It. _Back!_" he repeated, shaking Naruto's head and making the blond wince with pain. Kiba and Neji were watching from a safe distance, knowing by now that it was better to stay away whenever Sasuke and Naruto got into a fight.

"Ow!" Naruto shouted as Sasuke's grip on his hair became so tight that he was starting to wrench it out. "Okay, alright already! I take it back!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, still furiously angry. "Apologise."

"What?"

"I said fucking apologise!" the Uchiha yelled, his free hand grabbing Naruto's chin and forcing him to stop wriggling against the grip on his hair.

"Looks like Naruto's the bitch in that relationship," Kiba commented quietly to Neji, not loud enough for Sasuke to hear thankfully. "Funny, I woulda thought it would be the other way around." Neji 'hmmed' in agreement.

"Jesus Christ Sasuke, I'm sorry alright!" Naruto gasped, tears of pain shining in the corners of his eyes. He looked like he was fighting to stop them from spilling, his teeth clenched viciously and a look of defeated defiance on his face saying that he would not give Sasuke the satisfaction of seeing him cry.

Sasuke took a deep breath, and let go of Naruto's hair. He took a step back, feeling the anger drain away, leaving him tired and worn out. He felt bad now for hurting Naruto so badly; the blond was clutching his scalp and wincing. But before Sasuke could apologise for getting so worked up, Naruto punched him right in the face.

Sasuke stumbled backwards, pain blossoming on his jaw as his hand flew up to cover it, a look of shock on his face. Now Naruto was breathing heavily, his eyes darkened in anger. "Bastard," he growled, visibly shaking with his fists clenched at his sides. "I'm not fucking sorry at all!" And with that, he turned and stomped out of the water and up the bank into the trees. About two seconds after he vanished between the redwoods, they heard a scream of frustration that sent birds flying up out of the canopy of leaves.

Sasuke rubbed his throbbing jaw, staring at the space where Naruto had been. _I'm not sorry at all!_ Had Naruto been referring to his punch, or was he taking back his forced apology? Sasuke's guess was as good as anybody's.

"I'm… going to check on him," Kiba said uneasily, knowing full well that he was the cause of the fight. He chanced a glance at Sasuke, who just glared more furiously than usual, and then Kiba ran after Naruto, leaving Neji and Sasuke in the water.

Neji surveyed the Uchiha calmly, arms folded over his toned pale chest. "You overreacted," he stated.

"I know!" Sasuke snapped, hands coming up to the sides of his head and clenching at the sodden raven hair there in frustration. He had hurt Naruto really badly it seemed, worse than was usual when they fought. Usually, Naruto took it with a laugh and a smile, but this time… he had seemed really upset. As if the thought that Sasuke didn't want to sleep with him was hurtful to him.

Sasuke blinked, and looked over at Neji. Apparently, the Hyuuga knew what he was thinking, because he said, "He's had a crush on you since the first time he saw you."

"And you know this how?" Sasuke spat, turning the information over in his head incredulously.

Neji shrugged. "It wasn't hard to notice. Kiba had an inkling as well. Naruto's always staring at you like some adoring puppy, and he'd really do anything for you."

"I thought he just admired me for having good grades!" Sasuke protested, alarmed that even Kiba had seen the signs. _Kiba_, who couldn't tell the difference between sugar and flour when both presented to him.

Neji just gave another one of his half-hearted shrugs. "Well it's pretty clear now what his feelings are, right?"

Sasuke sighed and turned his head back to look at the gap in the trees that Kiba had run through after Naruto. "I never knew," he said quietly. "Jeez, if I'd known earlier maybe I wouldn't have been such a bastard."

"Well you can't change the past now," Neji said, swimming over to Sasuke and then kicking back to float on his back. Sasuke half considered going after Naruto, but thought it would be best to leave Kiba to the clean up squad for now. He copied Neji, floating on his back and staring up at the cloudless blue sky.

"Hey, a hawk," Neji said, pointing out the majestic bird of prey that flew overhead. It had what looked like a baby fox clutched in its talons. "You don't see them in the city."

Sasuke bit his lip, mulling on the situation. "Naruto likes me," he said out loud, and Neji made an affirmative sound in the back of his throat. "But…" Sasuke continued, sounding hesitant, "I don't know if I… feel the same. Hell, I've never been with a guy before."

"Kiba has always assumed that you liked Naruto back," Neji said calmly. "That's why he thought you were gay. Naruto _is_ one of the only people you truly relax around after all. You're not even that relaxed with me, even though we've known each other since we were five."

"That's because he's my best friend!" Sasuke protested, but something at the back of his brain was telling him otherwise. It was true that he was almost totally relaxed around Naruto, more than with any other person in his life, including his family. Naruto just had a quality that drew Sasuke to him… he was warm and inviting, and totally accepting of who he was. And Sasuke had to admit that once or twice he had wondered if maybe he and Naruto were like two sides of the same coin, destined to be friends. He had even entertained with the idea that soul mates could come in the form of your best friend. But physical attraction had just never occurred to him before.

Now though, things were starting to make sense.

"Talk to him when he's calmed down a bit," Neji said, having noticed the epiphany on Sasuke's face. "Discuss things with him. It'll help clear up your confusion."

Sasuke didn't reply, continuing to stare, unseeing, up at the clear blue sky.

* * *

It was nearly dark by the time Sasuke worked up the courage to go and talk to Naruto. He and Neji had returned to the camp at lunchtime to find Kiba sat by himself, playing on his DS and drying in the sunshine. Naruto had stormed further along the path to another clearing, and was refusing to talk to Kiba.

Sasuke followed the trail that ran around the edge of the lake, keeping a look out for this clearing. He had pulled on a t-shirt and some khaki shorts, and had brought some of Naruto's clothes with him knowing that the boy was still in his swim shorts. He tried to think up something to say as he walked, but nothing came to him.

He happened upon the clearing after about twenty minutes of walking. At first, he couldn't see Naruto at all, and he panicked thinking that the boy had gone wandering without letting anyone know. But then he caught sight of the yellow hair; Naruto was reclining on a low branch of an old oak tree, his hands tucked behind his head as he leant back against the trunk with a scowl on his face. One leg was bent at the knee and the foot rested on the branch, whilst the other leg hung loose over the side.

Sasuke swallowed and walked across the clearing. Naruto evidently saw him because Sasuke caught the flash of blue in the dark as his eyes glanced over to Sasuke, but Naruto didn't say anything, instead returning to scowling at the foliage above him.

Sasuke stopped when his head was level with the branch. He was right next to the foot hanging over the side, which was swinging with agitation. He stepped back enough to make sure that Naruto couldn't kick him should he fly into a rage.

"Hey," he said softly, not looking up at the blond boy reclining above him.

"Hey," Naruto replied dully. Sasuke winced at the lofty tone.

"I… brought you some clothes," he said lamely, holding up a t-shirt and shorts. Naruto sat up on the branch and took them without a word. He pulled the t-shirt over his head but left the shorts lying on the tree branch.

Sasuke shifted from one foot to the other, kicking his feet. "Listen," he said, feeling extremely exposed and very un-Uchiha-like in that moment, "I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. I didn't even consider your feelings on the matter, and I… totally overreacted."

Naruto stared at him blankly, and then gave a derisive snort. "You got that right," he muttered, kicking his feet on either side of the branch and looking anywhere but Sasuke. "I guess three years of hints wasn't enough for you to realise, was it? Took you long enough."

Sasuke stared at Naruto's feet, ashamed. "I'm sorry," he said, knowing it wasn't enough. "I… I talked to Neji after you left and he helped me to… realise some things. Like your feelings… and mine as well."

"And?" Naruto asked dryly, leaning back on the branch again and tucking his hands behind his head. "Did you have an epiphany?"

"Pretty much."

The blond cast a confused glance down at him at that point. Sasuke held the gaze firmly, not backing away. Naruto broke the link first, not pressing him for more information for the moment.

Sasuke grabbed hold of the sturdy looking branch and heaved himself up, grateful for his upper body strength as it was quite high. How Naruto had gotten up there when he couldn't even do one pull up was beyond him. He settled himself on the branch, one leg either side, facing Naruto who stubbornly wouldn't look at him.

"I've been a dick," Sasuke said plainly. "Not just today, but since I met you. I can't believe I didn't realise until Neji _told _me."

"Yeah well, it wouldn't have been so bad if you hadn't reacted as though sleeping with me was the most disgusting thing you could think of," Naruto spat, still staring off to the side with a furious pout on his face. "Way to let me down gently, bastard."

Sasuke grimaced. This wasn't really going well. He shuffled closer to Naruto until their knees were almost touching and then planted his hands in the strange rhombus shaped gap between their laps, leaning forwards until his face was inches from Naruto's.

"Look at me," he said softly. Naruto, surprisingly, looked. His eyes were wet with pain. Sasuke's stomach clenched uncomfortably at the knowledge that he was causing that pain. "I did some thinking after you left… like I said before, I came to realise a few things. Stuff that makes more sense now."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked hotly, but his face was vulnerable and confused. Sasuke worried his lip with his teeth for a moment before leaning forward even more, until their noses were almost brushing.

"I'm talking about me and you," he said, barely a whisper, his breath ghosting over Naruto's slightly open mouth. "I'm… talking about this." And he kissed Naruto, softly. It was short and tame, but he was amazed at how much more enjoyable he found it than kissing Sakura or Ino. Naruto's lips were chapped but still soft, and were hot like the rest of his skin. Even though Naruto didn't kiss back, simply staring at Sasuke in utter bewilderment, it was the most meaningful kiss of Sasuke's life, even if it wasn't the best he had ever experienced.

He pulled away by a hair's width and locked eyes with Naruto, who was breathing very erratically. There was a moment of utter joy in the large blue eyes, and then suddenly, for the second time that evening, Naruto punched him.

"What the fuck?" Naruto screamed as Sasuke reeled backwards, falling back on the branch and knocking his head painfully. Naruto was hovering over him in an instant, his hands on Sasuke's chest, his face thunderous. "What the hell was that, Uchiha?"

"It… was a kiss, moron," Sasuke replied, wondering what the hell he had done wrong now.

"I know that you bastard!" the blond yelled, shoving down forcefully on Sasuke's chest, forcing the breath out of him. "But if you think that kissing me out of fucking sympathy is going to make things better again, you've got another thing coming!"

"Sympathy?" Sasuke wheezed, Naruto's weight unbearably strong on his chest. He stared defiantly up at his best friend, who looked positively outraged. "Who the fuck said it was sympathy you fucking _retard?_"

"If it wasn't sympathy, then what the hell was it?" Naruto shouted back, and to Sasuke's utter shock, he bent forward and buried his face in the Uchiha's shirt, his shoulders trembling. "What do you _want_ from me, Sasuke?"

Sasuke's head connected with wood as it fell back on the branch again. He stared up at the canopy of leaves overhead, the sun completely gone beneath the horizon leaving only stars that twinkled through the gaps above him.

"Naruto," he said quietly. When the blond didn't respond except to clench his hands in Sasuke's shirt, Sasuke reached a hand up and ran it through the wavy blond locks he had been bent on wrenching out of Naruto's head not six hours before. Naruto's hair was surprisingly soft, and thick, like fox fur.

"Sit up, Naruto," he said then. Naruto obliged, straightening up and letting Sasuke follow. Sasuke's cheek was throbbing with pain where Naruto had hit him, but he ignored it. He reached forward and grasped Naruto's chin gently. "Look at me," he pleaded quietly. Shaking slightly, Naruto did so. "It wasn't a sympathy kiss. I came to realise after you punched me earlier…"

He broke off, trying to think of a way to word it. "I've always thought that we had something, well, special between us… but until you punched me and ran off, I didn't know what that was, or how to… define it.

"What I'm saying is… I like you too, Naruto. So much so, that actually putting a name to it is killing me inside. Knowing that I may have hurt you irreversibly, it's… its burning me. I feel like I'm burning from the inside out." Sasuke stroked his thumb over Naruto's cheek, feeling his face heating up with the embarrassment of prostrating himself like this. Hoping that this time it would be better received, he leaned in again, brushing his nose softly against Naruto's before pressing their lips together.

It was like a floodgate had been opened. As soon as their lips touched, Naruto's hands flew to Sasuke's hair, weaving into it and dragging Sasuke in closer, forcibly deepening the kiss with a tortured moan. Sasuke grunted with surprise and dropped his hands to Naruto's thighs for balance, tilting his head to the side and sliding his lips against Naruto's. Naruto opened his mouth to let out another shaky gasp, and Sasuke shoved his tongue roughly into Naruto's mouth, tasting him for the first time. Predictably, Naruto tasted like ramen, salty, but there was another taste there that was indefinable. If Sasuke could have described it, he would have said that Naruto tasted like a storm, or the way the air tasted after a monsoon. Fresh and vibrant and crackling with energy.

It was intoxicating and so incredibly intimate that it hurt Sasuke's brain to think about it. He knew virtually everything there was to know about Naruto, so to be kissing him like this, mapping out the insides of his mouth, learning his _taste_, making him whimper and moan, was like taking it to a whole new level of understanding, a new level of intimacy between them. He knew that Naruto felt it too; the blond was trembling, his hands shaking as they clenched clumps of Sasuke's hair in a death grip.

They broke apart, chests heaving and their eyes locked in a gaze so intense it was painful. Naruto's lips were swollen and red, and Sasuke felt the urge to nibble on them, but he resisted, waiting for Naruto to speak.

The blond panted harshly for a few minutes, staring at Sasuke and still holding his hair with both hands. Finally, he gasped, "You're such a bastard," and then kissed Sasuke again, pulling the raven-haired boy's body close enough that their chests pressed against each other. It was Sasuke's turn to moan. This felt so, _so_ right. The energy between them was so bright and intense he could practically see it, like a thick red rope that was humming between them. He let Naruto's tongue into his mouth, and it didn't feel weird at all, in fact it felt incredible. He wanted more of Naruto, he wanted to feel everything, learn all there was to know about this incredible, fantastic, _patient_ boy in front of him who had waited for three years for this, uncomplaining.

"Naruto," he said the next time they broke apart, a trail of saliva joining them at the mouths, "Can I…?"

"I'm all yours."

They stopped kissing long enough to get off the branch and lie down on the ground. The air was thick with pressure and clouds were quickly blotting out the stars. It was going to rain again any minute, but they barely noticed as they tore off each other's t-shirts before Sasuke fell between Naruto's legs, nervously grinding their swollen groins against each other and moaning into Naruto's mouth at the incredible friction it generated. Naruto's hands were racing up and down his back, dipping into the lines of muscle and tracing the shape of his protruding shoulder blades.

"God Sasuke," the blond said with a shudder as Sasuke nervously leant in and began sucking his neck, still rocking their hips together. "I've waited… so long…"

"I know," Sasuke replied, lapping at the reddening bruise he had just left on Naruto's exposed throat. He let a little more of his weight rest on Naruto, their stomachs aligning. Naruto's belly was hot against his, and toned. It made Sasuke's cock harden in his shorts even further. Naruto's hands wiggled between them, and began working on the fastenings of Sasuke's shorts.

"I… I've never…" Sasuke began as Naruto pushed the shorts down his thighs along with his boxers.

"It's okay," Naruto assured him even as he gathered up Sasuke's swollen dick with one hand and pumped it a few times, making the boy above him moan as his eyes rolled back in his head. "It's okay," he repeated, "I'll make sure you don't hurt me."

Sasuke nearly crumpled with relief at the knowledge that Naruto was letting him top. He didn't think he would be able to go through with this all in one go, if he had to bottom. He kicked his shorts the rest of the way off and got to work on Naruto's swim shorts, which were easy enough to pull off. As soon as they were naked, the first drops of rain began to patter down on Sasuke's back.

Naruto kissed him again, hard and impassioned, their eyes scrunching closed as their lips moved together and their tongues acquainted themselves with each other. Naruto was still stroking Sasuke's cock, long and firm strokes that were crippling Sasuke's mental processing and razing his nervous system to the ground.

The rain was getting heavier now, stinging Sasuke's back as the droplets smacked down on it, but neither of them noticed or cared. They broke the kiss, and Naruto let go of Sasuke's cock, bringing his hand up to his own mouth and sucking on the fingers, coating them in saliva and keeping his eyes of Sasuke the entire time. Sasuke's heart was pounding in his ears; he could feel his pulse in his fingertips, his wrists, his neck, his back. Every cell of his body was alive with sensation as he watched Naruto's hand move back down between their bodies, and then Naruto pushed one thick finger inside himself.

"Nnh," the blond gasped, his face screwed up in a frown as he began to pump the finger in and out of his hole, at first with shallow thrusts but then deeper and more vigorously as he got used to the sensation. A second finger entered along with the first, and whilst Naruto scissored the two in a bid to stretch himself, Sasuke began to suck on his own fingers. He brought his hand down to join Naruto's between the toned golden thighs, and slipped one of his fingers in alongside Naruto's.

"Sasuke," Naruto breathed, barely audible over the torrential rain now crashing around them. Sasuke's hair hung wet and limp around his face, rivulets of water running down his strong arms, whilst Naruto's torso became drenched despite Sasuke hovering over him protectively. Together, they moved the three fingers inside of Naruto, spreading them out and stroking along the scorching inner walls.

"Now," Naruto demanded, a little louder, pulling their fingers out and grabbing Sasuke's hips. Sasuke kissed him harshly as he aligned his cock to the stretched orifice, thrusting his tongue in at the same time as he tentatively pushed the head through the first ring of muscles. Naruto groaned into his mouth, his fingers now bruising in their grip as they guided Sasuke's hips slowly forward, pushing more of the throbbing member inside him. "Oh god," the blond gasped in an overwhelmed voice when Sasuke's thighs touched his butt, "Oh fuck… Sasuke…"

Sasuke was trying very hard not to move. Naruto was incredibly tight, tighter than any girl he had slept with, and as was predictable he was so _hot_ inside as well. His brain synapses were frying at that very moment from the sizzling heat that burned throughout Naruto's entire body and was particularly centred right now on Sasuke's intruding dick.

Sasuke rested his forearms on the sodden earth either side of Naruto's head, looking down at the blond for confirmation to continue. The rain was plunging down around them, smelling just like Naruto tasted, and for some reason it only intensified the intimacy between them. Naruto leant up and kissed him, streams of waters coursing over their faces and lips as their tongues slid and played frantically. And then Naruto let go of Sasuke's hips, permitting him to move.

Sasuke jerked his pelvis back and then thrust in fast but shallow, causing the breath to catch in Naruto's throat. The blond's tanned hands had come back up to fasten themselves into Sasuke's hair. "Again," he gasped, "Deeper."

Sasuke obliged, putting gradually more and more power behind his thrusts, forcing himself into Naruto over and over as the rain cascaded all around them. "Ohhhh… my god…" Naruto moaned out, long and trembling, his black eyelashes like half crescent moons on his cheeks. His head fell back with a smack in the dirt, the rain now pounding on his face as Sasuke buried his own face in the crook of Naruto's neck. Sasuke's teeth clamped down on the muscle of Naruto's shoulder in his attempts to mask his own noises as he kept up a punishing, nearly violent rhythm that reflected their relationship far more accurately than the gentle kisses and soft touches before had done. Naruto's body was jerking with every thrust, strangled noises clawing their way from his throat as he wrapped his legs around Sasuke's waist, driving the pale man even deeper.

Sasuke's dick glanced over a spot deep inside Naruto, and he screamed raggedly, rain falling into his open mouth as he yelled out, "There, Sasuke! Oh fuck, do that again!"

"Argh, I'll try," Sasuke grunted out before biting into Naruto's shoulder again, focusing on keeping that exact angle as he pounded into the blond beneath him. After a few experimental thrusts he found the spot again, as he was told by Naruto's suddenly constant scream of howling and screaming, and he punished that spot viciously, desperate to bring Naruto over the edge before he himself came. He could tell he wasn't far off, so he reached down with one hand and gathered up Naruto's neglected dick, pumping on it erratically as he continued to thrust wildly into the blond.

"Shit – fuck – oh – god – Sasuke!" Naruto hollered, his inner muscles clenching uncontrollably around Sasuke's cock as ribbons of thick cum coated their torsos and were immediately washed away by the pounding rain. Sasuke released Naruto's shoulder with his teeth and with three final jerking thrusts unloaded into Naruto, howling against Naruto's neck as his brain overloaded and his body gave out. He collapsed down on top of the blond, totally incapable of coherent thought. All he knew as he lay there on Naruto's chest, the rain hammering down over and around them, was that Naruto was stroking his hair gently, combing out the tangles.

* * *

They extracted themselves from one another eventually, and pulled on their shorts for modesty's sake more than for warmth. They walked back to the camp in silence, exchanging the little glances they had shared that morning as they had washed their faces and brushed their teeth, except this time, the glances were complete. They knew everything about each other now, absolutely everything. It was an intimacy neither of them could even begin to describe, and even though it was a little suffocating, it was a euphoric feeling that they never wanted to end.

When they reached the camp, it was past midnight. The second tent hadn't been erected, and to their surprise and immense amusement when they entered the other one, Neji and Kiba were curled up around each other, fast asleep. They were laid on their sides facing each other. Neji had thrown one arm over Kiba's shoulders, and to Naruto's great delight and hysterical amusement, Kiba was sucking his thumb.

"At least they can't tease us now," he chuckled as they lay down next to each other, uncaring that they were soaking wet. Sasuke pulled Naruto into his arms and kissed the blond's forehead, before kissing his lips long and slow. They pulled apart, breathless, and lay their heads down to sleep.

In the silence that followed, with only the rain outside to listen to, Kiba commented, "You guys are so gay."

* * *

_And that's the truth of it. -nods sagely-_

_Reviews are much appreciated!_


End file.
